RealSpace Glossary

Contents

Arc

An arc is an area in relation to a vessel that a side of the vessel 'faces.' Arcs are primarily used to determine if weapons are on the correct side of the ship to shoot at another ship, or to tell where another ship is in relation to you. For example, if a weapon is capable of shooting in arc A, then the target must be in arc A to be shot at. Most weapons are capable of shooting in more than one arc, however.

Here is a list of arcs along with the relative bearings they cover (degree ranges cover clockwise direction):

Abbr.

Arc

Range

F

Fore

315-45 (horiz.)

A

Aft

135-225 (horiz.)

P

Port

225-315 (horiz.)

S

Starboard

45-135 (horiz.)

V

Ventral

elev. < -45

D

Dorsal

elev. > 45

Note that the Ventral/Dorsal arcs take 'precedence.' It doesn't matter what horizontal arc a contact is in; if it's in one of the elevation arcs, then that's the arc it is in, period, since arcs are actually four-sided pyramid shapes (forgiving 'cones').

Bearing

Direction measured from one position to another. The bearing is technically a heading and is stored the same way (vertical angle,horizontal angle). A bearing, however, determines what heading is needed for a ship at point A to pass through point B.

Course

See Heading.

Cruising Speed

Every ship is rated for a certain maximum warp cruising speed. This speed is the maxiumum speed at which the vessel's engines can propel it without overheating or taking damage. This speed is usually lower the the maximum attainable speed of the vessel. When a ship moves into warp beyond the maximum cruising speed, it causes the warp coils begin to overheat (See: Warp Coils).

Kliks is the standard unit of measure for distance in space. One klik is equal to how far light travels in one second (represented many times by 'c').

Heading

The course or direction in which a ship is moving. Defined as two coordinates (horizontal,vertical). The horizontal angle (yaw) indicates how far left or right the ship is facing (ie 0 would be forward, 90 would be right, 180 backwards, 270 left). The vertical angle indicates how the ship is heading on the Z axis (up/down). The vertical angle (pitch) can be from 90 (straight up) to 0 (level) then to -90 (straight down).

Speed

The rate at which an object moves through space. Speed is measured in impulse and warp speeds. Impulse and warp speeds are measured in c (light-seconds [300,000 km]). Full impulse is 1/4 warp 1. Warp 1 is 1c per second. Warp speeds go up exponentially after 1. Warp 10 is impossible.

Warp Speeds

Factor

Speed in c

1.0

= 1.0c

2.0

= 10.08c

3.0

= 38.9c

4.0

= 101.6c

5.0

= 213.7c

6.0

= 392.5c

7.0

= 656.1c

8.0

= 1024.0c

9.0

= 1516.4c

Impulse Speeds

Percent

Speed in c

1%

= 0.0025c

10%

= 0.025c

25%

= 0.0625c

50%

= 0.0125c

75%

= 0.1875c

100%

= 0.25c

Warp Coils

Warp coils are what are packed inside those warp nacelles you've come to recognize on every star trek vessel. These coils consume and put out a bunch of energy, and will heat up if they're pushed too hard. Every ship has a cruise speed. When you exceed warp cruise, the engines don't take damage right away. The warp coil heat increases until it gets critical, then the engines begin to take damage. If the warp coils overheat, the engines recieve large amounts of damage and your ship drops from warp. You can't establish a warp field while the warp coils are critical, and cannot, therefore, go to warp.

When you exceed warp cruise, the engines don't take damage right away. The warp coil heat increases until it gets critical, then the engines begin to take damage. If the warp coils overheat, the engines recieve large amounts of damage and your ship drops from warp. You can't establish a warp field while the warp coils are critical, and cannot, therefore, go to warp. You can monitor the status of the warp coils in warpstat. This status display will also tell you how long you can maintain the current speed (if you're moving above your cruising speed).

Warp Field

Every ship, while at warp, sustains a warp field. These warp fields need to maintain integrity to keep the ship at warp. Energy disruptions large enough (ie: large natural energy ouputs, weapon fire -- anything that would cause damage to shields) will degrade the warp field's integrity. Field integrity will be restored by the warp engines' power output very slowly while at warp. However, full integrity is restored each time the ship establishes a new warp field.

The command warpstat gives the status of the warp field integrity along with other things.

Also, when a ship enters warp, it must first establish a warp field. This takes a few seconds, as the warp nacelles have to calibrate. The entire process takes an average of 20 seconds across most ship classes. During this time, the ship is vulnerable to energy interruptions. Any energy interruption (natural phenomena, weapons fire, etc.) will disrupt the forming warp field and prevent the vessel from entering warp.

So, a pursuing vessel can fire at the target vessel at warp, degrading the target vessel's warp field, then keep the target vessel at impulse speeds by disrupting the target vessel's warp field every time it attempts to establish a new one. However, there are only the few seconds in which the attacker has to disrupt the enemy's warp field.